Woman faces trial for fake testicles

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina | Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:31pm EDT

(Reuters) - The police chief of a small South Carolina town will ask a jury to decide if a woman broke the state's obscenity laws by driving a pickup truck with plastic testicles hanging from the back.

Bonneau Police Chief Franco Fuda ticketed Virginia Tice, 65, in early July at a local convenience store after spying the adornment dangling from her truck.

South Carolina law considers a bumper sticker, decal or device indecent when it describes, in an offensive way as determined by contemporary community standards, "sexual acts, excretory functions, or parts of the human body."

The offense carries a maximum fine of $445 but no jail time, Fuda said.

"This is certainly not a staple of my ticket writing in Bonneau," the police chief told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Charleston law firm Savage & Savage will represent Tice for free, attorney Scott Bischoff said. The trial had been scheduled for next week but was delayed because the defendant will be out of town.

"She's such a sweet lady and she just says 'I don't want to pay the fine.' We'll let a jury decide whether this is really criminal behavior. I don't want to take away from the importance of free speech, but it's really comical," he said.

Lawmakers in some states have sought to ban the colorful plastic or rubber devices that go by brand names such as Bulls Balls and Truck Nutz.

Fuda said if the fake testicles were a free speech issue, "I don't know what they would be trying to express."

"I went to (a) few websites that said, excuse the expression, 'show your nuts,'" he said. "I didn't see anywhere it said support your local proctologist or farmer."

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Johnston)

Eight year old boy drives truck on interstate

From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (7-31-11):

BATON ROUGE, La

State police said an 8-year old boy was driving a pickup truck down an interstate while his drunken father slept in the passenger seat. Troopers said the man's 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat when the truck was stopped Saturday morning. The boy's driving was so erratic that it alarmed other motorists, who called authorities.

The children were handed over to the Louisiana Child Protective Servies. The father, 28-year-old Billy Joe Madden of Hattisburg, Miss., was booked on charges including Child Desertion and Allowing a Minor to Drive.

Are we building homes to close to rivers?

Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune story (7-31-11) about developers who have been building homes closer to rivers, thanks to government-constructed dams and levees, more conservative flood estimates, and the availability of federal flood insurance. Yet many of these homes have been experiencing floods in recent years due to weather changes some attribute to global warming. Humans have always been drawn to live near waterways, but is it reckless to invest millions of dollars in real estate in such potentially hazardous areas? What role does the government play in contributing to this practice? Should government take a stand against it or would this constitute an infringement of indviduals' right to build and live where they wish?

Anti-Shariah movement gaining momentum

Click on this link to read a New York Times article (7-30-11) about the growing movement in many states to legally ban Shariah or Islamic Law. Proponents view the advocacy of Shariah as an attempt by Muslims to take over the United States (and other western nations). Others argue that Shariah should be distinguished from Islam, the religion that gave the concept its birth. Similar controversies raged for many centuries in the Holy Roman Empire regarding the extent to which Christianity included aspirations to political power. Does public advocacy of Shariah undermine the foundations of western democracy, or should Muslims who seek it be protected in their right to do so by the First Amendment?

Over the top parenting?

Click on this link to read a column (Sarasota Herald-Tribune) about parents who build extravagant backyard playgrounds for their children. Is anything a parent does to make a fun childhood for their children OK or are there limits to what is reasonable? The columnist argues that simpler forms of entertainment (crayons, paper, tape, etc.) are just as good and sometimes better in terms of encouraging imagination. Do you agree?

Doughnut wars give Shanghai a sugar jolt

Click on this link to read a Washington Post story/photos (7-18-11) about the rapid rise in popularity of fast foods and now, doughnut shops, in Chinese cities. Are sugar and caffeine the nutrients by which high tech affluent societies thrive? Is the flow of such substances (along with cheap fast food) a necessary ingredient, like electricity, internet access, or clean water, for economic development ala 21st century forms of life? Does Krispy Kreme sound the final death knoll of traditional Chinese culture?

Childhood obesity = child abuse?

Click on this link to read a column by Esther Cepeda (7-17-11) that cites an American Medical Association opinion that parents who allow their kids to grow very fat are engaging in a form of child abuse. For earlier article (USA Today, 7-23-09) that discusses how the courts have handled this question, click on this link. Does the government have a right/obligation to protect children from fatness-enabler parents?

Crowd-sourced horror flick?

Click on this link to read a Slate piece (7-15-11) about a plan to use social media to direct actors in a horror flick being made by the director of Disturbia. Is this interactive approach to film directing just a marketing gimmick or is it a next step in the movement towards a more democratic and participatory form of cinema? Crowd-sourcing expands the circle of ideas and viewpoints and, potentially, the film's audience. But some have questioned whether crowd-sourcing equates to wisdom or quality. Just read the comments section on some popular YouTube videos! Will letting the masses dictate a films' direction lead to the lowest common denominator? Or has that already occurred anyway via the marketplace?

Michelle Bachmann takes a pledge for sexual purity

Click on this link to read a Slate (7-10-11) copy of the election pledge signed by Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachman. The entire pledge text is included. Besides the content of the pledge, the language of which is highly provocative, there is the question of why candidates are being urged (by political advocacy groups) to sign such pledges. The practice began in the 1990s with Newt Gingrich's "contract with America" but has proliferated in recent years. Are such "litmus test" documents a way to achieve clarity about candidates' positions, or do they have the effect of boxing candidates into narrow ideological positions?

Too much police power?

Click on this link to read a Cracked.com article about particularly blatant police abuses. Are these just aberrations or a symptom of a criminal justice system out of whack?

Should youths be "protected" from flavored tobacco?

Click on this link to read a guest column by Kisha Gaines in the Sarasota Herald Tribune (7/3/11) that defends a request by Sarasota leaders that vendors cease to market flavored tobacco products.  These products (like little cigars, hookah, and smokeless products) are combined with sweet fruity flavors and colorful packaging that, Gaines argues, have been demonstrated to appeal to young people.  Is a voluntary ban on selling such products the solution, or are there other less radical responses?  Or is the danger to the young so great that bold measures are called for?

Guns & mental illness: a good mix?

Many centuries ago in The Republic, Plato raised the question of whether it would be just to return a weapon to neighbor showing signs of mental illness.  An article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune raises this same question.  Courts have recently ruled in favor of the gun rights of individuals with a history of serious mental illness.  Do such decisions recklessly and needlessly endanger the public (and perhaps the ill person)?  Or do those with a history of mental illness have a right to defend themselves and/or to overcome previous difficulties and regain their rights?